CA Travels -Batman: Stray Clown
by PsychoKillerKtCA
Summary: It has a strong female role. There will probably be some romance. There will definitely be violence and banter. It is written from different first person perspectives. There will be more description at the beginning of the story. (OC) What kind of person do you think would send their own file to Arkham and a resume to possible adopters?
1. Wayne Manor Ball

Cat Angel (CA) is a character who will one day have her own reality, but for now, I am just tossing her into other peoples' realities. I guess I just can't wait for her to exist in a reality more open to the public. She is too much fun for me to keep to myself. Don't worry, you will catch on.

I am not sure what this reality is yet -probably unstructured-, but it is obviously a DC Comic's Batman reality, so it's a Batman fan fiction now on FanFiction.

Please review, aspiring authors gotta' learn.

Chapter 1: Wayne Manor Ball

(Cat Angel Perspective)

"May I have this dance?" A handsome young man, about the same biological age as me, bowed, offered his hand, and lifted his head to smirk in a sort of warm way.

"Uh… sure?" Why is he asking me? "I mean!" I had to correct myself. Regaining composure, I adjusted my reply. "Yes, you may." I think I sounded rather suave.

"That's a nice dress."

"Thanks." It was a flowing dress rumpled on the bottom and elastic on the top, black with a red ribbon downward flow that accentuates the slightly jutted back. It also had a hood and an elaborate sleeve design. "Not my best design but most recent, and it's the only one I didn't have to put together in an unwashed basement from scraps by hand." I awaited his reaction to my revealing yet mysterious false modesty.

"Oh." A simple statement but a puzzled look.

"Yeah…" I had to get more out of him. "How's my dancing?"

"Huh? Uh, great. Why?" Atta' boy.

See those two men over there. They've been having me practice for weeks. Prospective adopters. This is their test to see if I can impress this sort of crowd. No offence." I winked.

"None taken." There's that grin again. "You seem to be doing well."

"Thanks." I treated him with the first smile of the evening. He ate it up. I let his mind slip as we danced.

A shift in song brought him back to his senses. "So… you're an orphan?"

"Yeah."

"Me too."

"Oh." I was not expecting that, though I would not say I am surprised.

Hmm… "Well then, judging by the lack of youth in this crowd and your complete ease, you're probably either a very confident orphan also trying to impress prospective adopters, or" –short pause for effect- "your my host." That does it. He doesn't know what to think.

"Catherine!" The would-be parent's sing-song voice and his partner's nasally one are kind of annoying, but I'll get used to it.

"Sorry, duty calls."

"I thought I was your duty." Cue self-congratulating grin.

"No, I just used you to perform my duty."

"Used me? Am I a tool?" Coy.

"Or middleman, if you prefer, but you played your part. How'd I do?"

"You played your part." So cocky.

Feigning innocence, I perked, "Great!", and turned to sprint away.

(Robin Perspective)

I forgot to ask her name. I thought of calling out, but as she approached the couple she had pointed out, a stern man in a nurse outfit approached her, and handed her a tiny pill. She heaved and took it.

A chill ran up my spine, and before you could sneeze, I had turned to face the man whose hand was on my shoulder, defenses ready. "Alfred!" Exhale- "I could of hurt you."

"I'm sure you could, master Dick, but not nearly as badly as master Bruce has. Who was that young lady?" As Bruce's butler and close friend drew out his "was", a glint of curiosity and… hope tickled the corners of his lit brown eyes. I didn't want to disappoint.

"I don't know." I confessed.

Alfred's smile slipped a little then came back. "I know! I have the guest list in my vest. I remember seeing her come in."

… "Well…"

My eyes were budging with anticipation as Alfred stood there, as still as a statue with a teasing smile.

"Well what, master Dick." I swear, for all his years, Alfred can be so immature!

"Show me the list!" I was going to die of a heart attack at the age of fourteen, not something one would expect in my line of work.

Alfred raised his brows, still teasing. "Pleeease." I whined.

Alfred sighed and reached under his vest to produce a long folded receipt.

"Catherine Fish." I barely breathed.

Alfred's smile, still teasing -Does he ever stop?-, filled with warmth.

"So, Dick right?" I spun around again, shoving the list into my back pocket. She noticed, but didn't mention it.

"Um… Yeah. Catherine, right?"

"Call me Cat."

"Okay." I couldn't help, but wonder why a fleeting feeling of irony related to Bruce and Catwoman passed through my mind at that moment, but it didn't matter, because she had taken me by the hand, and we were dancing again.

(Batman Perspective)

Catherine Fish, the girl who submitted her own file to Arkham a few days ago, came to the charity ball with Bill and Ryan.

The file only contained chemical data about a condition that requires her to take medication or suffer varying neuro-chemical discrepancies -madness. A second file, however, was given to Gordon for my use. It's password protected in encrypted layers with a signal receptor I can only assume is connected to her somehow.

Are they considering adopting her? I'm not sure that's what they really want. They were looking for a baby boy, not a teenage girl.

Dick and Catherine seemed to enjoy each others' company. I should keep an eye on her, and Dick could use a friend. Perhaps, I'll be spending more time with Bill and Ryan.

I asked Dick what he thought, and he tried to aloofly conquer, but it was clear Dick had been struck with infatuation. Ryan seemed to think the idea of me being impressed with Cat -as Dick said she preferred- should confirm his resolve to settle for her, but Bill seemed less sure. He said he wanted the "fulfillment of teaching those skills" himself, though he was glad to have a girl.


	2. Play Dates

Play-Dates

(Robin Perspective)

"Go on, master Dick."

"I'm working on it, Alfred." He set down Bruce's dinner tray, and began arranging his meal. It was six o'clock am. Per usual, Bruce had not eaten in a while, obsessing over the Joker again.

The clown's planning something. His thugs have been working small, mostly self-serving crimes since his most recent capture, but two days ago joker gas was release in every stand-up bar in the city, with messages like "You could use a good laugh.", "I'm the only one who can make you really laugh.", and "Need a **hand**?" painted on the walls. Dr. Michael's severed hand held the gas bomb on that last one. Sick.

" You've been working on it for twenty minutes, master Dick." I rolled my eyes and smiled.

"It's only ben' fourteen." I knew I sounded whiny and in denial, so I rolled my eyes again, this time smiling at him.

"Very well, master Dick." He always says 'master' more when he is being sarcastic. Is that compensation, a cover, or part of his ploy?

It's not like I've ever invited anyone over by phone before. That is Alfred's job. Cat has been here before. Alfred told me Bruce thought I should have "play dates" with her, like I'm some kind of child. It was Alfred's idea for me to make the call myself this time. My first social call. Inhale.

"Hello?" A woman answered the phone.

"Hello this is Dick Wayne." I actually kept my own last name when Bruce adopted me, but people identify me as Bruce's heir. "May I speak to Cat, please?"

"Yes."

"Hello, Dick. Do you need something?" Was that Cat? She sounded different over the phone, kind of an annoying voice really. It sounded like she doesn't want to speak to me, or anything human.

"Would you like to come over?"

"When?"

"I don't know? How about Friday at four? I am inviting others over." I just decided that, and Alfred stifled a chuckle behind me. I glared at him, and he shuffled off to feed the brooding bat.

_**Writer's Note:**_ I am using fan fiction to develop writing strategy. I was writing this chapter, and I couldn't figure out how to write some scenes that were necessary for the story. The temporary fix is to summarize it. Though that doesn't solve the processing problem long term, obsessing over details wouldn't add to my strategy as I currently need to. It is, however, somewhat necessary for plot, which is what I'm currently working with. For now, I need to see it work in order, putting details on the side. This, therefore, is basically a summary of what the chapter would be, if I had reached that part of my strategy development. I had become too fixated on this chapter, so it has taken me a while to decide on this solution. I keep forgetting to move on from a thought process problem when it becomes too difficult. I _**apologize** _to myself, the only person I know was reading this, and anyone else whom may have been or still be interested.

(Omniscient Perspective)

**The party guests-**

Many of the teenagers at the party were orphans. Gotham has so many that there is an all-school required group therapy at the community center for orphans. Dick Grayson is no longer required to go, because he convinced his guardian, Bruce Wayne, it was unnecessarily taking up too much time. The orphans, a few upper class contacts, and three people he personally befriended, share his company regularly. Many of the orphans are now wealthy. It pays to have good appearance in Gotham. There are in total. Dick barely speaks to anyone else.

**Neighbors_:_** Mitchell Rodericks is Dick's neighbor, or as close to a neighbor as anyone can be to Wayne Manor. Taylor and Maximus White are on the other side. Arthur Wilder is to the back. There are no children in the other four surrounding mansions and no one at all to the front 'til you reach the city.

**Selected from Social Circles:** Liliandra and Joseph Michaels are a couple of wealthy kids he let worm their way in, as a mutual to use each other, along with Saraphine Finch, Arthur Milner, and Tiffany Honey. Randy Johnson, Jake Finch, John Devins, Harry Clarkson, Kelsey Morson, Jarrod and Fran Marcus, Sally Fredricks, Kate Renolds, and Josephine and Theodore Marrison are from the orphan group. Cecelia Dent is second cousin to Harvey Dent, a family friend.

**Closer Friends:** Barbara Gordon, Commissioner Gordon's daughter, is a close friend of Dick's. Jacob Milner was a pathetic bullied child whom Dick had defended and soon befriended. Catherine Fish, a recent acquaintance, had spent a lot of time with him and already met his other friends. She joined the orphan group on the day of the party, and, to the dismay of Dick, expends much energy impressing rich people. Barbara is her new-student escort, and Jake gets flustered whenever she's around, because she's new.

**Activities-**

About half the kids were late. About half the kids were intrudingly early. Only Jacob, Cat, and Barbara showed on time. This is the first time they've all been together since the new addition to his clique.

Laser light virtual games were a hit.

There dancing (wilder, younger, than before). Cat didn't dance much. She was much stiffer than before, and seemed lost.

A giant buffet was served.

All the movies currently in Gotham theatres were played with a projector on a sheet.

Everything was held in one large room.

**Diologue-**

"We orphans gotta' stick together." -Dick when asked why he invited the "un-s", Saraphine Finch's name for the unadopted -unwanted- orphans.

"I heard she showed up with a resume and pile of portraits of them [the adopters] in all sorts of weird styles and other art." -Saraphine Finch again.

"Who's that?" "Her nurse." "What's she got a nurse for?" "Don't know." -random kids.

"Hey, Dick." -Cat. "Yeah?" -Dick. "I'm leaving." -Cat. "Why?" -Dick. "Curfew." -Cat. "Kay." -Dick.


End file.
